Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $2.31 Million in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 17,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,314,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WWD. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Woodward by 79.3% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the second quarter valued at $28,000. KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Woodward during the first quarter worth $30,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Woodward during the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward in the second quarter valued at $71,000. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total transaction of $208,290.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,200 shares of company stock worth $7,242,916 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WWD. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Woodward from $136.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.22.

Woodward Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $148.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $145.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.24. The stock has a market cap of $8.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.36. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.42 and a 52-week high of $160.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.65.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.33. Woodward had a return on equity of 15.26% and a net margin of 9.50%. The business had revenue of $786.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.13 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. Woodward’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is 21.10%.

Woodward Profile

Woodward, Inc designs, manufactures, and services control solutions for the aerospace and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Industrial. The Aerospace segment provides fuel pumps, metering units, actuators, air valves, specialty valves, fuel nozzles, and thrust reverser actuation systems for turbine engines and nacelles, and flight deck controls, actuators, servocontrols, motors, and sensors for aircraft.